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Ideology, Programme and Organizational Factors in Public Assistance: The Case of Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Abraham Doron  and
Ralph M. Kramer
Abraham Doron
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, Hebrew University.
Ralph M. Kramer
Affiliation:
Professor, School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley.
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Abstract

While ideology may not explain differences in welfare policy on an international comparative basis, it can help account for the process of policy development in a particular country. In Israel, ideology was very significant in the historical development of public assistance by its influence on social security policy choices concerning the removal of certain groups from the residual programme of public assistance. Indirectly, ideology also shaped the extent and type of convergence of public assistance and social insurance, as well as the relative size and scope of these two benefit systems. It had, however, relatively little influence on the subsequent operating character of the public assistance programme, which seems to have an inner logic, independent of ideology, inhering in its operating principles. The latter — local responsibility, relative liability, less eligibility and means-testing – were reinforced by the organizational character of the sponsoring agency. Because they serve as a residual programme for groups whose claim for support is not yet legitimized, public assistance programmes in most Western countries will confront the same dilemmas and acquire a similar operating character.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , April 1976 , pp. 131 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

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15 Ibid.

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22 While the actual cash allocated for relief was below any viable minimum, it was usually supplemented by numerous in-kind benefits and ‘special needs’ such as subsidized rent, medical care, food, allowances for clothing, homemaker help, school supplies, furniture, etc. These had the effect of raising the actual income of many families by as much as 40 per cent. The welfare rates during the sixties and the contradiction between policy and ideology are also noted in Eisenstadt, , Israeli Society, op. cit., pp. 209–10Google Scholar, and in Halevi, N. and Klinov-Malul, R., The Economic Development of Israel, New York: F. D. Praeger, 1967, pp. 281–2.Google Scholar

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27 Shlakman, , op. cit., pp. 195–7.Google Scholar

28 While the rate of support on public assistance fell from 4.8 per cent of the population in 1955 to 2.7 per cent in 1972, the number of cases supported did not change because of the transfer of the aged to National Insurance, as well as the entry into the labour force of many persons formerly receiving assistance. The Israel Economist, 12 1977, p. 290.Google Scholar In the United States, the same process occurred except that while social security grew, so did public assistance in the 1960s. For a controversial explanation, see Piven, Frances Fox and Cloward, Richard A., ‘Reaffirming the Regulation of the Poor’, Social Service Review, 1974, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 147–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 During 1960–71, relief rates were increased in four steps with the new rate in September 1971 being 70 per cent higher than the rate in September 1969. Even with this raise the average grant for a family of six was still less than 60 per cent of the average monthly wage and any added income obtained through work was still subject to a 100 per cent tax. Shlonsky, , op. cit., p. 26.Google Scholar Ironically, the old age social insurance system resulted in payments which were only about 12 per cent of the average monthly income in 1970. Insurance payments for pensioners without other income was about 15 per cent higher than the basic welfare payment; for those with additional income it was about 20 per cent lower.

30 Doron, Abraham and Rosenthal, Rami, Relatives' Responsibility in the Israeli Welfare System, Jerusalem: Hebrew UniversityGoogle Scholar, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, Publication Series in Social Welfare and Social Work, No. 5, August 1971 (Hebrew). On the experience with means tests and the use of discretion in England and France, see also Stevenson, Olive, Claimant or Client: A Social Worker's View of the Supplementary Benefits Commission, London: Allen & Unwin, 1973Google Scholar, Handler, Joel F., The Coercive Social Worker, London: Academic Press, 1973Google Scholar, and Stevens, Cindy, Public Assistance in France, Occasional Papers on Social Administration, no. 50, London: Bell, 1973.Google Scholar A typical empirical study of the American experience is Handler, Joel F. and Hollings-worth, Ellen Jane, The Deserving Poor: A Study of Welfare Administration, Chicago: Markham Publishing Co., 1971.Google Scholar

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32 Efforts to spell out the criteria and to publicize them had the short-term effect of decreasing expenditures, although in the long run it is recognized that this would result in an increase in expenditures. Accordingly, the Ministry is unwilling to publicize criteria-as long as they have no assurance that funds will be available. Jaffe, Eliezer D., ‘Separation in Jerusalem’, Public Welfare, vol. 31, no. 1, 12 1972, pp. 33–8.Google Scholar

33 Some indication of the non-use of public assistance may be derived from a study which found that ‘in 1969 approximately 32,000 families or approximately 113,000 persons representing 5% of all urban families, lived below the welfare allocation line. This number is considerably greater than the number of families under this line who actually benefited from regular welfare payments in the same year’, Roter, R. and Shamai, N., ‘Patterns of Poverty in Israel’, Social Security (Bitachon Sotziali), no. 1. 02 1971.Google Scholar

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35 On the character of local government in Israel, the most recent comprehensive study is Weiss, S., ‘Local Government in Israel: A Study of Its Leadership’, doctoral dissertation, Department of Political Science, Hebrew University, 1968.Google Scholar See also Fein, , op. cit., pp. 182–185Google Scholar; Kramer, Ralph M., Community Development in Israel and the Netherlands, Berkeley: University of California, Institute of International Studies, 1970, pp. 37–44.Google Scholar A different and more positive perspective is found in Elazar, Daniel J., ‘Local Government as an Integrating Factor in Israeli Society’, in Curtis, Michael and Shertoff, Mordecai (eds.), Israel: Social Structure and Change, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1973, pp. 15–26.Google Scholar

36 The distinctive character of public administration in Israel is discussed in Caiden, Gerald, Israel's Administrative Culture, Berkeley: University of California, Institute of Governmental Studies, 1970Google Scholar, and Akzin, Benjamin and Dror, Yehezkel, Israel: High Pressure Planning, Syracuse University Press, 1966.Google Scholar See particularly the Introduction by Bertram M. Gross.

37 Kramer, Ralph M., ‘The Organizational Character of the Voluntary Service Agency’, Social Service Review, 1975, vol. 49, no.3 pp. 311–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The role of the social work profession as it pertains to efforts to change these conditions is considered in Jaffe, Eliezer, ‘The Social Work Establishment and Social Change in Israel’, Social Work, 1970, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 104–9.Google Scholar